Bass Week 2007

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If you’re planning ahead, Bass Week next year will run from 2 – 10 August

How Did You Rate It?

We have recently sent out emails to most entrants that gave us their details so they can give us some feedback.

If you were there could you spare 5 minutes to complete the online questionnaire so that we can take views into account when preparing for next year’s regatta. As a bit of encouragement, there will be a £25 voucher for the 50th, 100th and 150th completed form received. However, you are welcome to submit the form anonymously if you so wish.

Thanks for being part of this year’s event, and we hope you enjoyed it enough to tell your friends and come back next year!

It’s All Over!

The wet overnight weather dampened some of the late night antics that often occur at the end of the week (perhaps one, or more, of the key conspirators were absent?!). Scumper saw the light in the early hours when Kim came looking in search of her son when he suddenly realised the blonde boy he had been speaking to matched Kim’s blonde hair – Doooh!

The morning started with a slight breeze and intermittent showers (just what you don’t want when taking tents/awnings down), but racing got underway and although a reduced fleet, many enjoyed their final sail in airs much more consistent than Saturday.

At the final prizegiving of the regatta Commodore Steve Hunt thanked everyone who had helped pull the event together and keep it running through the week as well as all the competitors for attending!

In addition to the prizes for the weekend series, several special trophies for overall performance during the week were awarded

Final Fling

The final series of the regatta started today with some promising SW airs, so the OD opted to start the fleets from Scarness. The winds eased for while but did pick up again sufficiently to get racing going half an hour late, and the faster boats were sent to mark 14, but returning through the narrows and back into the bay were a bit of a nightmare as the curse (or should that be shadow) of Sale Fell took effect, forcing sailors to find whichever eddies were available. The delays and prolonged race set back the programme for the rest of the day, but another two races were sailed, albeit in similarly testing conditions as the wind continued to come, and go, and hide behind Sale Fell

For the first time, the RS Vareos held a travellers meeting and it formed part of the medium handicap fleet. The winner was Andy Flitcroft from Bolton, with Bass’s Rory Yardley second

A final disco will no doubt continue until the very early hours – what antics will take place this year….

Busy Friday

With the RNLI pursuit held over from Thursday, Friday was to be a busy day. The SSW wind direction forecast tends to swing around, or over, Sale Fell creating some testing conditions on the lake, especially in the shadow of the fell. The first part of the course took the fleet up to Scarness bay in reasonable winds which increased as more fleets started, however, coming back into the bay, the course took the boats in the shadow of Sale Fell which meant there were drifting conditions with flurries of wind coming from many directions! It proved difficult for many fleets to make appropriate headway relative to their handicap, but local helm Mike Fairlamb with Eric Smith took the honours overall in a GP (the second to win a pursuit this week) – so much for weighting their handicap!

The second race took the fleets to the south end of the lake with a strenuous beat, and some good reaching back to the finish for the leaders. Other fleets suffered slightly from the wind easing, and having to traverse the shadow of Sale Fell again.

The final race of the day is for Juniors, Ladies and Over 60s. As ever, the wind filled in and led to an exciting race for some very tired sailors.

We again benefited from a very low flypast from two Chinook helicopters – seeing is believing!

A prize giving will be followed by some live entertainment this evening

Blue Skies

but no wind! The breeze started to fill in from the South, but quickly faded as the OD went out to see if it was to be feasible to get racing underway. So while the postponement continues, everyone had to find things to fill their time. Firstly, the visit of RNLI may have been misinterpreted one visitor who was expecting an air-sea rescue display – unfortunately the best we could do was have an RNLI stand selling mementos, Christmas cards, and the like. This afternoon’s pursuit (if the wind fills in) is for the RNLI Silver Salver.

Scumper and Zefer filled their time flying model aircraft. Unfortunately there were some crashes into trees which meant some tree climbing to recover them. At one point it was thought that the planned visit of the fire brigade would be fortuitous in that they could rescue Zefer (but not his plane) from the tree.

We thought that all we had to do was wait for the sea breeze to take effect so that racing could get underway. The OD went out to see how the wind was settling down, and was perplexed that it was coming from the NW, but it kept coming back to that direction so he set the course and set the fleets off. By the time the last fleet had started the fast handicap fleet were still trying to reach the first mark as the wind had faded almost as soon as the race started. Although there were flurries of breeze, it took the lead boat nearly an hour to drift around the first four legs (and a further half hour for the rest of the faster fleets to finish). The OD opted to shorten the slower fleets after just two legs – a brief, but frustrating race!

The sea breeze failed to have any effect until after it was agreed to postpone the RNLI pursuit until Friday morning, at which time, of course, the wind settled down for the rest of the evening – Typical!

The forecast seems to be unreliable, and forever changing, so will tomorrow’s 9mph forecast come true for a change – we can but hope.

With such a beautiful evening, many are barbecuing (partly because the ladies have opted to wine and dine, on their own, at a local restaurant!), and others are quietly watching the film night.

A busy day is now scheduled for Friday with having to sail the pursuit as well as the scheduled morning race and the ladies/junior/senior race in the afternoon, all to be followed by a prizegiving in the evening.

Wednesday

Half way through the week already! The morning started with glorious sunshine and a mirror like lake. The wind did fill in to get racing underway after a slight delay, but, as ever, the winds were shifting. The fast handicap fleet started during a shift that made it difficult to cross the line on starboard, consequently there was a general recall. But the winds continued to come and go and shift throughout the 90 – 120 min race. For the second and final race of the one day series, the winds were supported by the sea breeze, and consequently ‘relatively’ steady. Having just a two race series meant that there were no discards, and every point counted.

Following racing the second prizegiving of the week was held. Sailing secretary Roy Blackburn avoided interjecting his script with unusual words, but instead accidentally spouted a spoonerism when announcing Steve Hunt and Ruth Critchley… The prizes were awarded by Lucy Cowan, grand-daughter of Lyle Dalton a past member, and wife of past commodore Maurice Dalton, as Lucy and her mother had presented a trophy for the RS200 fleet in memory of Lyle.

The evening disco will, no doubt, continue into the early hours of the morning – as if the sailors haven’t expended enough energy this week!

Tuesday

As with Monday, the forecast changed – the winds were just expected to reach 12mph, the same as Monday! However, whereas the recorded winds for Monday were more than double the forecast, Tuesday winds were probably just half of the forecast (apart from some gusts) – must be that Bassenthwaite micro climate effect again.

Racing got underway on time (well near enough for Shunty!) but the winds were variable in strength from screaming reaches down to frustrating lulls waiting for another gust.

The afternoon pursuit race was delayed waiting for the wind direction to settle (as if!). Phil Smith having vowed never to sail a Mirror again, broke it, and went out with young Ethan Dawson, and kept the lead for most of the 90 min race. Although the changeable conditions had kept Dave and Lynn Lawson at bay for some time, they eventually found the wind they needed minutes before the finish and took the winning horn. Shortly afterwards, the heavens opened for a short while and sailors had some unexpected drying out to do (if only the race had started on time….)

Apologies to Mark Ninnim – he did not mistake Sunday’s alarm as a fire drill, it was Mark Rimmer (the guy who crews for Mike Moore and reckons he’ll need new arms before the end of the week if the winds continue).

Activities for the evening include and adult bouncy castle session (just shows what a lot of big kids we all are), and a car treasure hunt. Later in the week the fire brigade are coming along – hopefully the bells and sirens will not give Mark Rimmer too much cause for concern this time.

As if we can trust the forecast, the winds are likely to be light for the two race Wednesday series. Another prizegiving tomorrow evening – will Roy come out with another little known descriptive word for any of the prize winners? Sunday’s word was amanuensis (Amanuensis is a Latin word adopted in various languages, including English, for certain persons performing a function by hand – Source Wikipaedia)

Two for the Price of One

or BOGOF (buy one, get one free) to those in the retail trade.

As ever, the forecast for sun and no wind changed! – Fortunately, as far as sailing goes it was for the better – showers and sunny spells with a good westerly breeze.

Yes, Toggle had everything he needed – wind, a team of helpers in the race office, and all afternoon. The course, as ever, sent the boats to the bottom end of the lake, but with a westerly breeze the down draughts were always going to be testing. Once the fast handicap boats reached Scarness bay, the test was on – if only to see through the torrential downpour that flattened the waves! It seemed a bit shifty and gusty at times, but shortly after the fleet was surprised that the rescue craft were advising the race had been abandoned. This was because in the main bay where some fleets had yet to start, OD Toggle couldn’t see the starboard end of the line, but the prolonged squalls passing through had taken at least 10 boats out and he wasn’t certain that the rescue cover was adequate. So two hours later the race was restarted (although several boats opted not to venture out a second time). The course kept the fleet in the main bay, but at times it was difficult for reaching boats to be fully aware of the boats on the beat – no accidents, but several near misses!

Although the first start was scheduled for 1430, some boats still managed to cut things too fine and missed their start, so they found the abandonment and restart a bit of a god send – Local helm Scumper and Zefer successfully used this to their advantage, and secured first position on the water, but on handicap they were 3rd behind another local Mike Moore in a F15, and an RS500.

Over the course of the day, tales of the previous evenings antics came to light. First of all congratulations to Pilkington Sailing Club for winning the quiz night with 67/70 (including correcting the quiz masters official answer). Although many had an early evening following the quiz, many had a rude awakening as an alarm sounded when Cecile struggled to set the bar alarm! However, it seems that Mark Ninnim thought it was a fire alarm and quickly jumped out of bed (and got dressed?!) before attending role call (as he thought)

Later tales of a pyjama party in the back field were rife – shame that Judith C over indulged and suffered somewhat in the morning. Also, apparently there was a no pyjama party somewhere near the Commodore’s van – however, the details of this remain very hazy!

While on the subject of the Commodore, the Commodore’s reception on Saturday had been delayed, partly due to him sitting on a protest committee, and then furthermore due to him going for a shower, but forgetting his trousers, and pants, and socks, and shoes. What’s he like?

As for Tuesday’s racing, the Commodore, and OD, may be relieved that he’s not sailing – if today’s forecast winds of 12mph (in Keswick), only actually topped 13mph, then what will hit the sailors with a forecast of 23mph as Bassenthwaite continues to benefit from its own micro climate?

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime

After a wet build up to the regatta, the wind built up on Friday night, leading many to wonder what was to be in store for the forthcoming week.

However, with the campers and caravanners settled in the wind eased for a fantastic first race of the week. First over the finish line, and first to be disqualified was Paul Allen in an RS400 – he made the fatal mistake of crossing back through the finish line 🙁

In a bid to be even handed, the OD also disqualified several other boats throughout the series for obstruction of other boats (and the like).

Sunday’s racing started with glorious sunshine and a good southerly enabling the OD to send the fleets around the lake in relatively true winds (i.e. not too many down blasts from the surrounding fells to benefit, or hinder, sailing). However, for the final race, the wind had eased and was so unsettled that it attempts to race it were eventually abandoned.

The wind continued to fade until the lake was mirror-like.

Off the water, Saturday evening’s entertainment started with the Commodore’s reception followed by a disco into the early hours. An infestation of flying ants seems to be bugging several of those on site, including our Commodore’s wife – but why should she be immune?! The mass of barbeques and scented candles seems to keep the ants at bay (for a while at least)

First birthday honours of the week (that I know of) goes to Dave Summerskill – the only chore he seemed to get out of for the day was cooking the evening meal on the barby.

No doubt tonight’s quiz will create a bit of inter club rivalry…

Monday’s forecast is both good and bad – Sun with little wind! What will OD Toggle Cowan make of that? Will he stick to tradition and send the fleets down the lake for the second time this week? Only time will tell.